Face plate mounting, especially for railway cars



June 4, 1957 A. G. DEAN FACE PLATE moun'rmc, ESPECIALLY FOR RAILWAY CARS 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Jmie so, 1955 lN\ /ENTOR -Qlberf G. Deck WzW xGENT A. G. DEAN June 4, 1957 FACE PLATE MOUNTING, ESPECIALLY FOR RAILWAY CARS 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed J me 30, 1955 R O m E V m 11 M Cr Dam /m.

FACE PLATE MOUNTING, ESPECIALLY FOR RAILWAY CARS Albert G. Dean, Narberth, Pa., assignor to The Budd Company, Philadelphia, Pa., a corporation of Pennsylvania Application June 30, 1955, Serial No. 519,024

4 Claims. (Cl. IDS-10) The invention relates to spring-biased mounting of a faceplate, particularly a face plate arranged at the end of a railway car and connected with a diaphragm enclosing a passage.

Among the objects of the invention is a face plate mounting adapted for conditions under whicn there is not enough room above the passage opening for one of the customary arrangements of a spring serving to bias the face plate and hold it in contact with a mating face plate of an adjoining car or structure.

A more specific object of the invention is a face plate mounting and spring-biasing adapted for double-deck railway cars with a passage opening on the level of the upper deck which latter extends to the respective end wall of the car and in which the aforesaid space limitations are particularly severe in view of the clearance lines and the full standing height required for the decks of the car as well as for the passageways between cars. Indeed, in cars of the indicated type there is mostly no noteworthy room at all on top of the opening, except the thickness of the roof, which would permit the usual arrangement of a biasing spring for the face plate.

The aforesaid and other objects and advantages are achieved by biasing the upper end of a face plate by means of torsional springs which are preferably arranged along the sides of the passage opening.

The invention and its details, objects and advantages are more fully disclosed in the following description of an embodiment and its illustration in the attached drawmg.

In the drawing:

Fig. 1 is a fragmentary diagrammatic side elevation, partly in section, of two adjoining double-deck railway cars;

Fig. 2 is a diagrammatic end elevation on a larger scale of one of the cars;

Fig. 3 is a fragmentary end elevation, on a still larger scale, of one side of the face plate and its suspension, and of adjoining part of the end wall of the car; and

Fig. 4 is a fragmentary sectional view along line 44 of Fig. 3.

The ends of car bodies 5 are supported by trucks 6, diagrammatically indicated by their wheels. Each car has an upper floor 7 spaced full standing height from roof 8 and extending to end wall 9, the latter surrounding a passage opening 10. Opening 10 also is of full standing height and has its lower margin at the level of the floor 7. The car has a lower deck 11 above the trucks 6 and another, not shown, deck of full standing height between the trucks.

A face plate 12, associated with each end wall 9, comprises above car couplers 13 a lower transverse member 14, an intermediate transverse member 15 below the lower margin of opening 10, an upper transverse member 16 above opening 10, and vertical members 17 along the sides of the opening 10. Each end wall is furthermore provided with the usual threshold plate 18. The members constituting the face plate 12, particularly top States Patent 0 "ice :and side members 16 and 17 may have channel section and comprise a web 19, an inner leg 20 and an outer leg 21.

End wall 9 comprises an end plate 22, a frame 23 for passage opening 10, and a collision post 24 on each side of opening 10 and substantially lined up with'face plate 12. The usual diaphragm 25, secured to the inside of face plate 12 and to the collision post 24 in customary manner, is only diagrammatically illustrated in Fig. 1 but not in other figures so as not to hide parts which constitute essential features of the invention.

Face plate may be spring biased and supported along its bottom member 14 in any customary manner by means of (not shown) stems longitudinally guided in and spring biased against the lower part of the end wall.

The invention concerns the spring bias of the upper part of face plate 12 against end wall 9 because, as indicated hereinbefore, the illustrated type of car offers not sufficient space between passage door 10 and roof 8 for one of the known biasing springs as disclosed for instance in applicants U. S. Patent 2,309,073, isssued January 19, l943, for Diaphragm Face Plate.

The upper end of the face plate is spring biased by a pair of torsion springs 26, one on each side. Each spring 26 has a long straight portion 27 rotatably mounted to the outside of the respective collision post 24 by means of brackets 28. The lower end of spring portion 27 has a rectangularly bent off arm 29 which is firmly secured by means of further brackets 30 to the collision post 24 at about the height of the lower member 14 of the face plate. The upper end of spring 26 has a laterally extending arm 31 journaled by its upwardly directed outer end 32 to one end of a link 33. The other end of link 33 is journaled at 34 to a bracket 35 and the latter is secured to the outer leg 21 of face plate 12.

Fig. 4 illustrates in full lines, dot-and-dash lines and double-dot-and-dash lines difierent positions of face plate 12, link 33 and spring arms 31, 32 relative to end wall 9. Assuming that there is no tension in this spring when the face plate 12 is farthest away from end wall 9 as shown in dot-and-dash lines in Fig. 4, then it is evident that any movement of face plate 12 is closer to end wall 9, as shown respectively in full lines and double-dot-and-dash lines, means a corresponding movement of the outer end 32 of arm 31, which can only be achieved by twisting or torsioning straight part 27 of spring 26, the lower end of which is prevented from rotating by its stationary securement of its angled-oif lower arm 29.

The new arrangement requires no space whatever above passage opening 10 and practically no space at the sides of collision posts 24 and face plate 12. Consequently, the new mounting solves the object of the invention and does not interfere either with any equipment, devices, etc. which customarily are arranged on the outside of the end wall of a railway car, while it assures an effective spring biasing of the upper end of face plate 12 and is of extremely simple, inexpensive, rugged and durable construction.

The invention is not restricted to the details of the illustrated embodiment. Particularly the invention is susceptible to modifications and to adaptations to different conditions, particularly different constructions and forms of end wall and face plate.

What is claimed is:

1. In a railway car or the like: an end wall and a face plate surrounding registering passage openings; a pair of torsion springs, one on each side of said openings; each spring having a vertical part, a lower end and a lever at the upper end; said vertical part being rotatably arranged and said lower end being held against rota tion on one of said end walls and face plate; said lever having its end remote from said upper spring end jourend wall having a collision post and said vertical spring part being rotatably supported on the lateral outer side of 'said collision post.

4. A railway car or the like according to claim 1, a link having its end journaled respectively to the outer end of said lever and one of said face plate and end wall.

No references cited. 

